virago

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vi·ra·go

(və-rä′gō, -rā′-, vîr′ə-gō′)

n. pl. vi·ra·goes or vi·ra·gos

1. A woman regarded as noisy, scolding, or domineering.

2. A large, strong, courageous woman.

[Latin virāgō, from vir, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots.]

vi·rag′i·nous (və-răj′ə-nəs) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

virago

(vɪˈrɑːɡəʊ)

n, pl -goes or -gos

1. a loud, violent, and ill-tempered woman; scold; shrew

2. archaic a strong, brave, or warlike woman; amazon

[Old English, from Latin: a manlike maiden, from vir a man]

viraginous adj

viˈrago-ˌlike adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

vi•ra•go

(vɪˈrɑ goʊ, -ˈreɪ-)

n., pl. -goes, -gos.

1. a loud-voiced, ill-tempered, scolding woman; shrew.

2. Archaic. a woman of strength or spirit.

[before 1000; Middle English, Old English < Latin virāgō=vir man + -āgō suffix expressing association of some kind, here resemblance]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	virago - a noisy or scolding or domineering woman shrew, termagant - a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman
	2.	virago - a large strong and aggressive woman amazon adult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted"

virago

noun harridan, fury, shrew, vixen, scold, battle-axe (informal), termagant (rare), Xanthippe, ballbreaker (slang) Violent wives are too easily dismissed as hysterical, man-hating viragos.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

virago

noun

A person, traditionally a woman, who persistently nags or criticizes:

fishwife, fury, harpy, scold, shrew, termagant, vixen.

Informal: battle-ax.

Translations

virago

[vɪˈrɑːgəʊ] N (viragoes or viragos (pl)) → fiera f, arpía f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

virago

n → Xanthippe f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

virago

[vɪˈrɑːgəʊ] n (frm, pej) → virago f

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References in classic literature ?

In this she was quite unlike the rest of the girls and women of the Folk, who were born viragos. She never made harsh, angry cries, and it seemed to be her nature to flee away from trouble rather than to remain and fight.

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To think that my love lay helpless there in the hands of those wretches; and to think that her lover lay helpless here in the supervision of this vile virago!

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It met its persecutor with a shriek, almost exactly like that of an angry virago.

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He paid two dollars and a half a month rent for the small room he got from his Portuguese landlady, Maria Silva, a virago and a widow, hard working and harsher tempered, rearing her large brood of children somehow, and drowning her sorrow and fatigue at irregular intervals in a gallon of the thin, sour wine that she bought from the corner grocery and saloon for fifteen cents.

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It is the worst insult one virago can cast upon another in a moment of altercation.